CARTOGRAPHY GOES BEYOND MAPPING

Cartography is the scientific,technological and artistic aspects of developing and producing

maps.It is also the discipline dealing with the conception, production, dissemination and study of
maps. Cartography is also about representation – the map. This means that cartography is the
whole process of mapping.
Cartography is a complex and ever-changing field, but at the center of it is the map-making
process. Viewed in the broadest sense, this process includes everything from the gathering,
evaluation and processing of source data, through the intellectual and graphical design of the
map, to the drawing and reproduction of the final document. As such, it is a unique mixture of
science, art and technology and calls for a variety of in-depth knowledge and skills on the part of
the cartographer. Sometimes one person directs this entire sequence of cartographic activities,
but this occurs only in relatively simple cases. In the creation of a map, it is much more common
for the various tasks to be split up and accomplished by several individuals.
Cartography is much more than just map-making, however. It is also an academic discipline in
its own right. It has its own professional associations (regional, national and international),
journals, conferences, educational programmes and its own identity.As a discipline,it embraces
not only cartographers who make maps,but also cartographers who teach about maps and
cartographers who do research on maps.
Cartography as a discipline also deals with the communication of spatial information
encompassing several areas of understanding: understanding humans and their
context,needs,demands and abilities, understanding the data,models and algorithms of spatial
information and understanding how to communicate that spatial information to users efficiently
by applying technologies, graphics and methods of communication.
The ability of maps and geographics information to connect and integrate datasets by the
inherent geographic location and present the information in a user-friendly and understandable
visual and tactual way in not only recognized as an intrinsic property of the map artifact but as a
subject or research area.This leads to questions concerning why and in which ways maps
communicate spatial infomation efficiently.
The cartographic sciences are geodesy, surveying, photogrammetry, remote sensing,
geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS) and, of course,
mathematics and statistics. In recent years, multimedia and virtual reality became part of the
cartographic experience. These are all separate, though somewhat overlapping, disciplines, and
they share an intimate relationship with cartography; indeed some have their own cartographic
components. A working acquaintance with these fields is an essential part of the education of
the modern cartographer.
Geodesy
Geodesy is a very specialized science concerned with determining the shape and size (the
‘figure’) of the earth–not the solid earth, but the geoid, the surface defined by mean sea
level–and establishing a framework of points whose locations are known very precisely in terms
of latitude and longitude. This is achieved in two ways, by studying the earth’s gravitational field
and by conducting very high-accuracy surveying operations. At one time, such work was entirely
ground-based, but satellite observations are now routine. Geodesy plays a fundamental role in
cartography, for in order to map the earth, it is obviously necessary to know how big and what
shape it is and to have reference points of known locations on its surface.
Surveying
If geodesy is unfamiliar to most people, surveying is quite the opposite, for almost everyone has
seen the surveyor at work on city streets with transit, level or distance meter. There are many
branches of surveying, including engineering surveys (carried out in connection with
construction projects), cadastral surveys (concerned with property boundaries), hydrographic
surveys (depicting water bodies) and mine surveys (outlining what is underground). The relation
between surveying and cartography is very close indeed, and the end-product of the surveyor’s
work is often a map of some sort. One branch of surveying–topographic surveying– has the
production of maps as its express aim. Surveying, like cartography, has undergone major
changes in recent years, but none so dramatic as those being brought about by Global
Positioning Systems (GPS).
Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
A constellation of twenty-four satellites operated by the U.S. Department of Defense comprises
GPS. It enables surveyors to determine ground locations very precisely at the click of a button
on a hand-held receiver under any weather condition. GPS is revolutionizing the practice of
surveying at a very fast pace. Today, a position on the earth’s surface can be determined within
fractions of a centimeter. The standard piece of information provided by a GPS receiver is a
readout of the calculated latitude and longitude of a given position. These latitude and longitude
positions obtained from a GPS can be plotted on a chart or on a map.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry means literally measurement with light and has as its principal aim the
production of topographic maps from aerial photographs. An earlier technological change that
revolutionized topographic surveying, photogrammetry emerged in the 1930s. Previously
topographic maps (large-scale maps in sheet form showing natural and cultural features in the
landscape) were produced by traditional ground surveying methods, and while ground surveys
are still needed, most of the detail on these maps–the rivers, coastlines, roads, buildings,
contours, and so on–is now derived from airphotos. The work is done by the operator of a
photogrammetric plotter, a complex piece of machinery that enables one to trace landscape
features from a three-dimensional ‘model’ of the earth’s surface created by viewing airphotos
stereoscopically. In modern photogrammetry, the movements of the tracing device, or ‘floating
mark,’ are translated directly into digital form and the map is plotted automatically.
Remote Sensing
A more recent discipline, dating from the 1960s, is remote sensing, the process of obtaining
information about the earth’s surface using sensors carried in aircraft and satellites. Though the
discipline is new, the original form of remote sensing–aerial photography–dates from the
nineteenth century, and techniques of airphoto interpretation have long been highly developed.
All types of remote sensing involve the measurement of electromagnetic energy reflected from
or radiated by the earth’s surface, and photographic cameras (based on visible light) are now
accompanied by other sensing devices operating at longer wavelengths. Examples are thermal
scanners in the infrared waveband and radar systems in the microwaves. The information
obtained may be in image form (like a photograph) or in digital form, and one of the most
intriguing applications of remote sensing is the computer processing of digital multispectral data
(data obtained simultaneously in more than one waveband) to produce land cover maps of the
earth’s surface. Another application of increasing importance is image mapping, the
incorporation of a remote sensing image, enhanced by computer processing, into the map itself.
Remote sensing, especially sensing from space, is a major source of mappable data, and as
such plays a key role in modern cartography.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
Another new discipline, perhaps the most exciting of all, GIS is a computer-based system for
handling geographical data, that is, data relating to the earth’s surface. The word ‘handling’
conceals a wealth of different operations, however. Some, like data storage and retrieval, are
fairly mundane, but others, especially analytical operations like buffering, overlay, network
analysis and viewshed modelling, are truly staggering in their potential for solving real-world
problems. Maps are integral to a GIS. Data are stored in the computer in the form of ‘layers,’
each in effect a digital map of some component of the landscape (e.g. a streams layer, a roads
layer, a soils layer) and analyses are achieved by performing operations on these layers,
sometimes one at a time, sometimes on several layers simultaneously. Each stage in an
analysis is displayed in map form on a high-resolution computer monitor, and the end-product is
very commonly itself a map. GIS has become a billion-dollar business since the early eighties,
which is not surprising given the range of proven applications. These include forest
management, urban planning, emergency vehicle dispatch, mineral prospecting, retail outlet
location, maintenance of public utilities, and waging war, as well as a host of applications with
purely scientific ends.
Mathematics and Statistics
Mathematics and statistics are heavily involved in the mapping process, not only because of the
geometric aspects of describing locations in space, but also because of clear needs to describe
and summarize the characteristics of spatial data. Through creative mathematical approaches,
cartographers may find new solutions to solve spatial problems.
Multimedia (MM)
Computer systems allow for integrated access to a range of data through the means of
stimulation of human senses using digital technology. This includes the integration of images,
video and graphics, maps and photographs, text and sound and perhaps in the future smell and
taste. This technology has a wide range of applications including education, scientific research,
military activities and, of course, entertainment.
Virtual Reality (VR)
A computer system that is able to combine a mixture of real world experiences and computer
generated material to allow for simulated real world representation produces a “virtual reality.”
VR addresses the construction of artificial worlds with clear spatial dimensions. The movie
“Twister” is an excellent example how VR works. These same kind of images can be very useful
for the scientist to model or demonstrate an event such as a natural hazard. Cartographers
have a major role to play in the identification of VR as a potential research tool.
Cartography and the cartographic sciences are all concerned in some way with data relating to
the earth’s surface, whether it be data acquisition, management, analysis or display, and there
is a growing trend, driven by a common dependence on computer technology, for the disciplines
described here to move even closer together. Reflecting this trend, the term geomatics is used
in Canada to denote an integrated multi-disciplinary approach to dealing with earth-related data.
In a sense, geomatics is an umbrella term for cartography and the cartographic sciences.